"Lieutenant Alvarado is unwilling to surrender to you. He feels that he can defeat you in a gang war and then pay a ransom to let him sail the San Luis. Along the way, this villain has been inciting sailors and soldiers to mutiny.
"The captain said angrily, "He knew that the ship contained royal subsidies to the Governor of the Philippines - this despicable gambler and villain! I spent a lot of effort to maintain order on the ship." The captain's face showed.
He had a look of regret on his face, and it was obvious that he felt regretful that his hard-fought voyage failed only one day away from his destination.
Doesn’t this lieutenant want to be a pirate? Zhou Weisen thought.
"How much royal grant is on board?"
The captain shook his head: "I don't know, the numbers are confidential, I just transport them."
"Where is the Sanraimundo?" Zhou Weisen asked next.
The captain was startled, thinking that they knew everything. They seemed to have followed them all the way from New Spain.
"We got separated in a storm six days away from here."
"Are there any royal grants aboard the San Raymundo?"
"Yes," the captain added, "I don't know the exact amount."
Zhou Weisen had nothing to ask. He understood all the key questions. As for Lieutenant Alvarado's ambition, he was not interested at all. However, it seemed a pity to lose more than 300 laborers in vain.
"Take it away." Zhou Weisen ordered.
"Please send someone to deliver a message to the Governor of the Philippines. I have friends in Manila who can pay the ransom..." When the captain saw someone coming to pull him away, he was afraid that this group of Chinese pirates would directly kill people and silence him, so he hurriedly expressed his position.
Zhou Weisen waved his hand. The captain and other prisoners were taken away. At this time, the cylinder, matching leather tubes and protective equipment had been carefully carried from the boarding bridge.
The Marines began to suppress the entrance hatch. Under continuous suppression with shotguns, the Spaniards guarding the entrance hatch were quickly squeezed out of the vicinity of the hatch. Two marines threw a pressure-resistant pipe in.
"Open the valve!" Following Zhou Weisen's order, a naturalized civilian technician from the Ministry of Chemical Industry wearing a full set of protective equipment carefully opened the valve.
A stream of yellow-green gas emerged from the grille - however, the heavier chlorine gas quickly sank. Zhou Weisen watched nervously, and looked at his watch to calculate the time for it to take effect.
Chlorine is heavier than air. When released on the upper deck, it will automatically spread down along the access hatch, and soon the entire middle and lower decks will be completely filled. However, according to their simulation calculations, the middle and lower decks of the Galen ship are not completely sealed.
——Those gun windows should still be open, and many holes were made in the battle just now. It is difficult for chlorine gas to reach a sufficient concentration. Therefore, the killing effect is limited.
However, even if there is only a small amount of chlorine in the air, it is enough to cause human incapacitation - chlorine is extremely irritating to human mucous membranes, and inhaling a very small amount of chlorine will cause severe coughing and difficulty breathing. According to calculations by the Ministry of Chemical Industry, this bottle of chlorine
It was enough to render the entire ship of Spaniards unable to resist.
Sure enough, in less than five minutes, there were howlings like dying animals, violent coughs and chaotic yelling from below the deck. Someone was screaming: "Let us out quickly, we surrender!"
Then there were a few more musket shots, the screams of dying people, and the sounds of chaotic footsteps. Suddenly, an access hatch was violently opened, and several people rushed out desperately. They raised their hands in the air and couldn't breathe.
He shouted intermittently: "Surrender, surrender!"
"Close the valve! Ask the prisoners to come out and kneel on the deck with their hands above their heads!" Zhou Weisen shouted loudly.
The prisoners scrambled out from below, choking and coughing. At one point, the access hatch was blocked, and the navy had to help them maintain order by punching and kicking them.
The captives who had climbed up knelt all over the deck. Some of them were tearing their throats in pain, and some were lying on the deck panting. Those in better condition were coughing constantly, and some simply couldn't get up.
Seeing that no one came out of the hatch, Zhou Weisen ordered a search of the entire ship. He also put on a gas mask and went down to inspect it personally.
The marine team wearing masks and goggles began to search layer by layer from the hatch. The chlorine gas poured in was only about half of the storage in the cylinder, but it had already caused heavy casualties on the second gun deck, only on the second gun deck.
More than thirty people were poisoned to death - soldiers and sailors gathered in large numbers on this floor to prepare for battle. They were the first to bear the brunt. Although there were far fewer people on the third deck and in the bottom cabin, the chlorine gas accumulated quickly, making it too late for some people below.
Those who escaped were gassed to death.
Seeing the grotesque death of the people who were poisoned, Zhou Weisen couldn't help but feel very entangled in his heart. Although this method was fast and effective, it was still used by emperors, kings and presidents without scruples in the 20th century. Moreover, he was also enthusiastic when he advocated poison gas.
A supportive member, but after all, he is a modern person who once lived in the 21st century.
However, the material harvest was extremely rich. In addition to the one-pound small deck gun, there were 34 cannons on the ship. All of them were cast in bronze. This copper income was very considerable. And the ship was filled with goods from the Americas.
The cargo was bundled into packages, not only filling the warehouse, but also loading a lot of it on the gun deck - no wonder the ship had such a heavy draft. Needless to say, there must be a lot of valuable goods in it.
Zhou Weisen did not open them one by one - this was not a suitable place for opening and inspecting goods, and goods traveling long distances were often mixed with terrible bacteria and viruses, which was how the plague became prevalent that year. He asked the soldiers to affix the seals of the Planning Institute on them all.
The most important trophy, the silver coins from New Spain, was in the bottom hold. Iron-clad silver boxes with lead seals were neatly arranged. Zhou Weisen checked the lead seals. On them were the seals of the Royal Inquisition Court of New Spain.
The badge is intact.
The body of the ambitious Lieutenant Alvarado was also found here, slumped against the silver box, clutching the box with one hand and tearing out his own throat with the other.
Zhou Weisen glanced at the horrific corpse with complicated emotions and ordered:
"Bring all the silver boxes onto the deck!"
Silver is the most important prize. Although they have decided to tow the St. Louis, one of the ship's masts has been broken and the hull is clumsy. If they encounter a big storm and have to abandon the ship, it is better to move the silver back to 901.
Reassuring.
The silver boxes were counted and registered one by one by Sun Xiao on the deck, and the seals of the Planning Institute were affixed before being transported to the Nong Tide to be used as ballast. Zhou Weisen then ordered the bodies to be cleaned up, but he was not in a hurry to ventilate the chlorine to dissipate, and instead told the soldiers to
All the portholes were closed, and all the gaps were plugged - chlorine has excellent disinfection and sterilization effects, and it can be used to disinfect this dirty sea ship.
"Have you found the ship's loading list, passenger list and logbook?" Sun Xiao asked. Since we are not going to clean up on the spot, the loading list is a crucial verification document.
"The captain said they are all in the stern cabin. Mendoza is collecting relevant documents and information. They will be handed over to you in the evening."
After a careful search and cleanup from top to bottom, the St. Louis was towed by a 901 ship and brought back to the waters of Samar Island to rendezvous with the remaining ships Haifeng and Feiyun.
The soldiers moved all the Spaniards who were still alive to the bottom cabin of the Haifeng. In the evening, all the senators gathered on the Tide and began to listen to Zhou Weisen's report.
"...According to the captain, there were 375 people on the ship at the last roll call three days ago. Now the total number of prisoners we have captured is 250, 109 corpses have been cleared, and 16 people are missing. But I prefer these 16 people
They were lost during the three-day voyage and fell into the sea during the battle. Of course, there may be errors when they named them."
"Aren't you still hiding in the warehouse?" Sun Xiao asked.
"That means we haven't cleaned up 16 corpses - although the concentration of chlorine below the deck will not kill people immediately, you will still die if you keep hiding in it." Zhou Weisen said, "I guess there are even rats in Lingao.
They’re all dead.”
The 250 prisoners included the captain, first mate and most other senior seamen. Only the second mate was killed in the battle.
"It is estimated that some people will die in these days - many are seriously injured and may not survive long."
"Is it okay for people who are poisoned? Will there be no sequelae?" Sun Xiao is also very interested in human resources.
"It's not a big problem. As long as the chlorine poisoning is not deep, they can be ventilated in time and rinse their eyes, nostrils and other mucous membranes with clean water - the hygienists have helped them deal with it. But if the poisoning is deep, they won't be able to survive."
"Actually, I think why do we need prisoners? Just ask them to walk on the springboard and that's it." Lin Chuanqing, who is used to being a smuggler, has no psychological pressure on this.
"Isn't this good? After all, we promised to surrender and avoid death." Lu Yang's knight complex took over.
"With all the people gone, who will say that we are not trustworthy? Even among our own people, no one can understand what Mendoza said. They will not know that we have fallen out."
"We have to consider the consequences: Miss Mendoza broadcast the call for surrender. If everyone was killed, she would definitely protest. Besides, killing prisoners at will is not a positive education for soldiers," Zhou Weisen said.
He was righteous in his words, but in his heart he didn't want to be scolded and nagged by Mendoza all the time on the Feiyun.
"Maintaining the unity of the elders is the first priority. The life and death of these 100 people actually doesn't matter. Besides, the mine in Sanya will not be too crowded." Sun Xiao expressed support for this.